I don't have the springy walk either. I'm sensitive to color and motion, but I never noticed it growing up. I was really good at spotting game while hunting. I can identify the species of an 6 inch lizard at 40 yards by the way it moves. The motion sensitive is only a problem when I'm trying to read text on web pages with moving graphics.

I was also raised before there was a lot if awareness regarding high functioning autism. In fact, I'm 60 and just got my first official autism diagnosis. It took the psychologist 3 months to write up the analysis of my testing.

It's funny you mention your grade school teacher who thought you were retarded. I had similar issues. In 4th grade I was put in the dummy class because in 3rd grade I told my teacher that two parallel lines do in fact meet. I tried to explain that they meet at infinity. She wouldn't listen. I'm a math prodigy. Didn't figure that out until I was a sophomore in high school.

Btw, there is a saying, "if you have met one autist, you have met one autist." :)